Inner sole for shoes



June 15, 1937. B, J. $.LVER' 2,083,581

INNER SOLE FOR SHOES Filed May 2l, 1934 lNvENToR BENJAMIN J. SILVER Patented June 15, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 11 Claims.

The invention relates to a shoe and more particularly to the conformation of the foot engaging surface of the inner sole of avshoe and the disclosure herein constitutes an improvement and`v development of the invention' disclosed in my copending application entitled Weight distributing inner sole, Serial No. 659,754 flled March 6, 1933,

now Patent No. 2,046,190 granted June 30, 1936.

In the prior application the basic sole contour 10 wastherein featured as having low arch characteristics approaching a flat footed condition, but in the device illustrated in this application while the sole may have low arch characteristics the basic sole is designed to more nearly approach arched contours not necessarily of maximum low arch characteristics.

' The primary object of the present disclosure is to provide whatmaybe'called a store or factory produced shoe, in distinction from a custom 2o made shoe, and which basic shoe can be readily modified in its sole conformation to more nearly ilt the peculiar variations of the maximum number of customers so as to give them a more accurate t consideredanatomicallythanhas been possible heretofore. The present disclosure is not particularly intended to function as a curative or corrective shoe, although obviously it may be used for such purposes at least to a limited extent.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawing and in part will be more fully set forth in the following particular description of one form of construction 5 embodying the invention, and the invention also consists in certain new and novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed. j

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view taken longitudinally through the basic shoe shown in position located with reference to the bone structure of the foot shown in side elevation indotted outline, and illustrating a preferred embodiment of 45 .the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view looking down upon the inner sole of the basic shoe shown'in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an explanatory figure in longitudinal section showing the construction of the, inner and 50 outer sole with the fixed ball padfshown in side elevation with a part broken away'andlocated in position b efore the soles are pressed together.

In the drawing and referring first to the basic shoe construction illustrated in Fig.l 1, there is 55 shown a conventional form of woman's shoe comthe segment of an egg form.

prising an outer sole III, an inner sole II with the edge of the upper I2 secured at its forward portion between the soles and at its rear end secured between the upper sole and the top of the heel I3.` In one commercial form of the device herein .disclosed, the inner and outer soles were split from a single layer of leather. The outer sole III extends from end to end of the shoe and is provided above the heel I3 with an opening I4 extending therethrough directly beneath the plantar inner tuberosity a of the bone skeleton. In the region beneath the ball of the toes, the outer sole is provided with an upwardly extending integral projection I5, said projection may be either of leather or replaced by a resilient material, being somewhat elliptical in plan and located to intrude into the similarly shaped opening I6 in the inner sole II and from which opening the projection I 5 was previously cut. The opposite long sides of the opening I5 are splitA outwardly as indicated at I1, I8. A ball or metatarsal area pad I9 is located in position with its forward end 'intruded into the opening I6 to receive the ball of the foot. This pad is formed of highly flexible material, such as soft rubber, l has a iiat underside and a. iiatly arched upper side 2I. When viewed in plan the pad is somewhat egg shaped, or, differently described, is

The` forward, relatively narrowhalf of the pad I9 is disposed to extendover the projection I5 with its forward edge 22 projecting beyond the forward edge of the opening I6, extending at its midlength through the slits I'I' and I 8 with its rearmost and relatively wider end overlapping the portion of the inner sole adjacent the rear edge of the opening I6 as particularly shown in Fig. 2.

The pad is accurately formed with relation to the bone structure of the fore part of the foot, it being noted that it underlies the metatarsals m, particularly the second, third and fourth metatarsals.

The rear edge of the inner sole II terminates at transverse line 25 at the forward edge of the heel Il, it being understood anat the plantar arch pl at theshank of the shoe may be rein- 26 are fixed parts of the basic shoe and are installed in place as part of the factory operation. The heel saddle is provided on its underside with a protuberance 21 which extends through the 5 opening M and may even be of a depth to intrude into a cavity 28 scooped out of the top of thek heel I3. It is suggested that the protuberance 21 be less resilient than the balance of the heel saddle so that strains on the saddle from the heel bone will be more or less distributed uniformly across the entire bottom area of the saddle. While the upper heel engaging surface of the saddle is of smooth rounded contour from edge to edge it is suggested that a shallow depression 29 be formed in the upper` surface directly beneath the heel bone a.

'I'he invention as thus described is predicated upon forming the basic shoe with its metatarsal pad i9 and heel saddle 26 incorporated in the shoe as a factory operation so that these cushioning elements are flxedly located relative to each other in the finished shoe.

Vihile there has been shown, described and pointed out in the annexed claims; certain novel features of the invention, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a shoe, the combination of an outer sole provided at the region of the ball of the foot and spaced from the edges of the sole with a raised portion, an inner sole having an opening conforming to and receiving therein said raised portion, a one-piece metatarsal arch pad forming a segment of an egg-shape form with its major axis extending longitudinally of the shoe, having its forward end positioned between the soles and adjacent the advanced end of the raised portion, overlapping the raised portion and having its rear wider end overlapping the portion of the inner sole in the rear of the raised portion, said raised portion acting on the pad to elevate a portion thereof beneath the heads of the second, third and fourth metatarsal bones leaving the heads of the rst and fifth bones uncushioned and said pad having its point of maximum thickness beneath the dome of the metatarsal arch and beneath the anterior third of the shaft of the second metatarsal bone.,

2. A shoe provided with means forming an inner uncushioned sole with its foot engaging surface forming a combination of curves conforming substantially'to the contour of the sole of the wearers foot and having cushioning means at the place where the ball of the wearers foot is i located in the shoe, said cus oning means having its highest point located un er the shaft of the second metatarsal bone to support the metatarsal dome and `reducing in elevation gradually in all radial directions from said point and forwardly to a position about the heads of the rst phalanges.

3. In a shoe provided with means forming an inner sole with its foot engaging surface forming a combination of ciuves conforming substantially to the contour of the sole of the wearers foot, cushioning means approximately egg shape in plan with its upper surface slightly convexed in all directions and having its point of maximum elevation in the rear of the head of the second metatarsal bone. and said cushioning means pro- 75 jecting a short distance .rearwardly and a greater distance forwardly from said point having its advance end terminating approximately at ruidlength of the second phalanges and its rear edge terminating approximately midlength of the shank of the second metatarsal bone.

4. In a shoe, a cushioning pad forming a segment of an egg shape form with its flat side downward and its arch side upward having its point of maximum elevation under the shaft of the second metatarsal bone thereby to flt under and tend to support the metatarsal dome, said thickness reducing from its point of maximum thickness in all directions to a feathered edge, said pad having its major axis extending longitudinally of the shoe, terminating at its relatively wide rear end beneath the middle metatarsal bones, terminating at its relatively narrow forward end beneath the middle phalanges and having a width to underlap the heads of the three middle metatarsal bones leaving the heads oi the lrst and fifth metatarsal bones uncushioned, or substantially so.

5. A shoe including an outer non-resilient sole extending the full length of the shoe provided with an opening extending therethrough at the heel portion, an inner sole terminating in advance of the heel, a unitary heel saddle forming a cushioning member of substantially scoop shape fitted in the space in the rear of the inner sole, positioned on the outer sole and provided with a depending protuberance tting in the opening in the outer sole thereby to provide a relatively large mass of cushioning material beneath the inner tuberosity of the os calcis.

6. A shoe including an outer non-resilient sole extending the full length of the shoe provided with an opening extending therethrough at the heel portion, an inner sole terminating in advance of the heel, a unitary heel saddle forming a cushioning member of substantially scoop shape fitted in the space in the rear of the inner sole, positioned on the outer sole and provided with a depending protuberance fitting in the opening in the outer sole thereby to provide a relatively large mass of cushioning material beneath the os calcis, said protuberance being of less resiliency than the balance of the saddle thereby tending to distribute heel weight throughout the entire mass of the saddle.

'7. A heel saddle for a shoe having a concaved upper surface adapted to receive the heel of the wearer, said saddle being formed of one piece of resilient material with the portion thereof beneath the os calcis of less resiliency than the remainder of the saddle.

8. In a shoe, a hollow heel receiving saddle for engaging the bottom and side edges of the wearers heel, saidfsaddle including a bottom and upstanding. sides approximately U-shaped in plan and each of said sides rounding at its lower edge downwardly and inwardly into the bottom,

vsaid saddle being open at its forward end and having a slight depression in its inner surface beneath the os calcis.

g 9. A one-piece hollow heel saddle substantially scoop-shape and conforming substantially to the underside and side edges of the heel of the wearer and provided on its upper side with a depression and on its lower side with a protuber- Y ance, both the depression and the protuberance 10. In a shoe, the combination of an outer sole provided at the region cf the ball of the foot and spaced from the edges of the sole with a raised "portion, an inner sole having an opening coniforming to and receiving therein said raised por- .\'tion, a metatarsal arch pad having its forward edge positioned between the soles and overlapping the raised portion and having its rear end overlapping the portion of the inner sole in the rear of the raised portion, said raised portion acting on the pad to elevate a portion thereof beneath 'the heads of the second, third and fourth meta.

lo tarsal bones.

sole provided at the region of the ball of the foot with a raised portion and provided at the heel with a cavity, an inner sole extending from the toe to the forward edge of the heel and provided l with an extension from its rear end forming a heel saddle having a protuberance tting in the cavity, and a resilient cushioning pad secured to the inner sole overlapping the raised portion and elevated thereby. 1

BENJAMIN" J. SILVER. 

